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The Okopeaneean kukers failed to run down and take Nasso Wonder Kuker from the square in time this time again. By the end of their performance, everyone but Nasso had been exhausted and out of breath. He demonstrated his monstrous stamina and strength that made him intangible. This is where his nickname Wonder Kuker had come from. Nasso Wonder Kuker's one-man show ended up in scandal again. Of course, the Bonevs family didn't want attention to the non-environmental side of their family's lumber business, let alone public trumpeting. So the scene was followed by predictable protests, complaints and threats.
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The Okopeaneean kukers had long wondered how to save themselves the headaches around Wonder Kuker. The tactic of getting him out of the square towards the end of their performance, just before he started his one-man show, had not worked. Someone revived the motion that Nasso's access to the kuker group's performances should be revoked, and it was rejected by the majority. The argument against it was well known: Kuker tradition was folklore, by all and for all, and it should remain open.
They could not impose restrictions on Nasso Wonder Kuker after even those of the past by gender, age and family status had been dropped for decades. Originally, kukeri was an initiation into maturity for young, unmarried men. It had a role in the gender education of boys who would dress up in women's costumes so they could see the world through women's eyes, in preparation for forthcoming marriage. It was in addition to disguising and taking a little more liberties in the strict, patriarchal old days. Kukeri was also a ritual of chasing away evil forces by pretending to be scary like them, and bewitching people and crops for fertility. In our time, any enthusiast could become a kuker as long as they provided themselves with a costume and bells, and knew the kuker dances . The latter could be seen on Sirni Zagovezni every year - in the last week before Great Lent, eight weeks before Easter. This was the time of the traditional masquerade in Eastern Bulgaria and a large part of Eastern Europe. And in Western Bulgaria, the Surva masquerade was held the week after the New Year, which was a welcomed extension of the kuker season. Masquerades had already become year-round, as kuker groups were invited to perform at any feasts and events of public or private character.
Anastas Anestiev - Wonder Kuker also had his internal struggles. The researcher in him, who had come across the extraordinary find of a "paranormal phenomenon", fought against the primitive man for whom survival and genetic continuity were the sole mission of life. What was the paranormal phenomenon? Firstly, it manifested itself in Nasso's superhuman resilience when he wore his kuker costume. Nasso's artistry for both mesmerizing dances, in shaman rhythm, and vivid pantomime improvisations had not been characteristic of him before Wonder Kuker; it amazed him himself. Then came the perspicacity, even clairvoyance, into people, events and situations, which Nasso had had no idea about before his mono shows. They would touch a sore spot, shrewdly exposing negative actions or inactions of social significance. It was as if in an instant, something directed Nasso to certain persons of the audience and instilled in him a plot and movements for pantomime, which always hit the mark, that is, reality. Finally, there were the regular interventions of some natural element, towards the end of Nasso Wonder Kuker's one-man shows, in tune with the plot. They were almost like in the Ancient Greek myth of Zeus the Thunderer. Such an intervention seemed to be the hurricane storm with heavy rain, which brought down many large branches and several trees in the town just after the pantomime dedicated to Bonevs non-ecological business. Witnesses attributed that to coincidences. They also talked of the influence of alcohol and especially drugs in the performances of Wonder Kuker. The thought of the latter would reflexively divert most people's attention to something else, so the interest in unravelling the happenings faded rather quickly. There was no shortage of conspiracy theories either, according to which, business rivalries, mafia or secret services pulled the strings of Nasso Wonder Kuker.
Nothing had foreshadowed the paranormal influx in Nasso's life. The plain looking Kuker costume made by himself stuck to the common design of Okopaeneee's kukers. Nasso himself had not had unusual behaviour before the Wonder Kuker; he was a normal family man of Christ's age, well-meaning and noble. His above-average intelligence had led him to a scientific career in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences years ago; he had prudently renounced it, choosing Yulia and their family's material well-being over science. Nasso's willingness to make sacrifices, and not just for his family, probably distinguished him from the multitude. His honesty and keen sense of justice might well belong to this list
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